SENATE minority leader Vicente Sotto III yesterday said the Senate can bounce back from the surprising dip in its trust and performance ratings by approving the proposed 2026 national budget without insertions.
Sotto, in a Viber message to the media, said the results of the OCTA Research survey from July 12 to 17 were the lowest trust and performance ratings the Senate has received, adding it is time for the leadership to be sensitive to the “cries of the people.”
“The ratings of the Senate have never been this low, even lower than the House of Representatives. Never!” he said.
“Para makabawi (How can it redeem itself)? Never repeat what happened to the budget last year and listen more to the cries of the people,” he added.
Sotto was referring to the “insertions” found in the National Expenditure Program, General Appropriations Bill (GAB) approved by the House, and the Senate version of the GAB.
The OCTA survey showed the Senate’s trust rating dipping to 49 percent from 57 percent in November 2024, while its performance rating also went down to 47 percent from 53 percent.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, known to have an eagle eye on the national budget, earlier said the 2025 national budget was “mangled” beyond recognition since there were a lot of “insertions” made by lawmakers during the budget process.
Lacson said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself said the 2025 national budget passed by Congress had a different form compared to the National Expenditure Program prepared by the executive branch.
Due to questions over controversial allocations, Malacanang postponed the signing of the 2025 budget from December 20 to December 30.
Marcos also vetoed some P194 billion worth of line items.
